SNL50 Did the Impossible by Successfully Landing the Plane

Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night. The infamous intro was the only thing that went wrong for SNL50. After all, the three-hour broadcast was on a Sunday.

Saturday Night Live is the biggest television show in American history. Over the last 50 years, the show had 167 cast members, was hosted by 894 celebrities, and featured just as many musical guests. How can you possibly try to encapsulate it all in one three-hour show?

Somehow, SNL50 did it. Lorne Michaels has still got it. He’s not the only person that made me say that during the star-studded event.

SNL50 Shows Eddie Murphy’s True Calling

Eddie Murphy was credited for saving Saturday Night Live in the 80s. Even if you weren’t a fan of Gumby or Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood, you learned during SNL50 that he is truly one of the funniest humans to ever live.

For my generation, we missed Murphy at the peak of his powers. We got to enjoy The Nutty Professor and Dr. Dolittle, but nothing compares to what Raw did for his career and the stand-up comedy business. He was such a superstar that he had a No. 1 song in America. It’s not a good song, but people didn’t care. Anything and everything he touched was gold. That happened again on SNL50.

Murphy played Tracy Morgan while standing next to Tracy Morgan. It was outrageous, and it still might not have been his best performance of the night. To deliver those lines in the final skit with a pop, all while keeping a straight face — I wish I could accurately articulate what makes him the best, but it’s plain as day to see.

Sign up for the KSR Newsletter to receive Kentucky Wildcats news in the most ridiculous manner possible.

SNL50 Wasn’t Just for the Celebrities

If you’re a famous person in music, movies, and television (hell, even Peyton Manning made a cameo), there was a good chance you were attending SNL50. It was as star-studded as an event could possibly get. Fortunately, they didn’t try to shove the cameos directly down the audience’s throat.

The celebrities were featured in skits where they fit. Meryl Streep was Kate McKinnon’s mother in another Alien Encounter. Sabrina Carpenter was a bridesmaid at a wedding where Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny crashed the event as Latin lovers. To give everyone a little screen time, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey had a Q&A with the crowd, allowing Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s dog to steal the show.

The theme of SNL50 wasn’t just a celebrity showcase. A live television show can’t exist for 50 years without hard-working people behind the scenes. The people who became institutions all got screen time, from the woman in wardrobe and the cue-card creator to the writers who were mockingly forced to watch the show from outside of 30 Rock. The sweat equity put into the show did not go unnoticed.

Incredible Music without any Politics

Saturday Night Live is the perfect barometer for American pop culture. If you want to know what it was like to live in America over the last 50 years, turn on an episode of the show and you’ll get a lesson on the news of the week, the contemporary political discourse, and what music people are listening to, all tossed into a big salad bowl of humor.

SNL50 could have put all of the Presidential impersonators in a room and had them duke it out. Instead of inserting some political satire, they made this reunion as apolitical as possible, and for a very good reason.

This event was about bringing people together from all generations. The show opened with a Baby Boomer, Paul Simon, singing alongside Gen Z’s biggest pop star, Sabrina Carpenter. The aging showrunner cannot continue to exist by producing a fossil from the 20th century. It must remain relevant and they did it with music.

They brought together generations with Miley Cyrus and Brittany Howard singing Prince. The Roots collaborated with Lil Wayne to create an unforgettable hip-hop performance, a tall task in the genre. The night was capped off by a Beetle who’s still got it, Sir Paul. It was an outstanding exclamation point, although SNL50 may have been better served with Adam Sandler’s emotional salute as the send-off.

Much like the producers of the show, Sandler understood the assignment. SNL50 was a reunion that hit all of the right notes for every generation who’s ever loved spending a late night in laughing at their television.